An Image Just Scrapes the Surface

This is how I feel about the image that I chose to represent Bryn Mawr. It’s beautiful, yes. It’s descriptive, yes. But it still seems like it only grazes the surface of what the physical campus of Bryn Mawr is to me. By choosing this picture (which is, by the way, not mine- I got it off of tumblr.com and searching “Bryn Mawr”) I have chosen to foreground the part of the campus where I spent much of my freshman year. I lived in the dorm farthest from the rest of the campus, but the trade off was walking to class gave me the best view of campus. Though that was two years ago, the view that comes to mind when I think “Bryn Mawr” is still this one. It feels magical to me- I love the roses, the greenery, and the castle-like dorm in the background. The flowers are fore grounded because I always find anything in nature much more beautiful than structures built by humans (such as buildings.) The terra incognita of the image would be the gym (on the left-hand side) and tennis courts on the right. Since I am more interested in the plants on campus than the man-made structures it doesn’t matter very much to me that the gym and tennis courts are not in the picture.

            The connection between this site and the site that I have chosen to visit over the course of the semester is, in fact, the flowers. I have chosen to observe the wildflower conservation area by the admissions building because I think that this is a strikingly beautiful spot on campus. However, I think that this image is a better representation of campus as a whole, because the vantage point is from above and looking down. This gives the viewer a unique angle from which to look at campus, and one that she wouldn’t get from a picture of the wildflower conservation area. I want to observe the flowers, but this vantage point is much better.